“In March, we told you this was only the beginning,” said Sheriff Grady Judd.“We sent a clear message to all those connected to the Key Medical Clinic and its owner, Patricia ‘Trish’ Osbourn, we won’t tolerate illegal ‘pill mills’ in Polk County.We have now charged 13 additional suspects in this investigation, and identified 12 other suspects in Polk County who were ‘doctor shopping.’ We’re not finished – we are going to continue to seek and find those who have worked with Patricia Osbourn putting dangerous drugs on the street and attempt to put them in jail.We are also going to investigate those who we find ‘doctor shopping’ and put them in jail.”

Detectives have used the state wide prescription drug database (the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program/PDMP) to find those who have gone to multiple/different doctors within a short time period and have gotten separate pain medication prescriptions. This is known as “doctor shopping.”

On September 17 and 18, 2012, Polk County Sheriff’s Office detectives charged 13 suspects who were being paid to get fraudulent prescriptions filled as part of the pill mill Osbourn was operating.During the investigation, detectives identified and charged 12 others unrelated to the pill mill but who are ‘doctor shopping.’ A total of 25 arrest warrants have been issued.

As of Wednesday morning, September 19, 2012, ten suspects have been arrested, and 15 suspects with warrants remain at large. They are listed below.

This ongoing joint investigation between the Polk County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), in cooperation with the Florida Department of Health (DOH) and the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution, began around July 2011, when detectives received information that the Key Medical Clinic, located at 1560 6th Street SW in Winter Haven, was a front for an illegal pill mill operation.

Previously through their investigation, detectives learned the owner of the clinic, Patricia “Trish” Osbourn, was illegally forging prescriptions for controlled narcotics using two different doctors’ names and DEA numbers whom she had hired to work at the clinic (the doctors no longer work at the clinic and they are not a target of the investigation), and providing them to Elizabeth “Liz” Sykes.

Sykes used recruiters, one of whom detectives identified as Gwendolyn Ward, to recruit people referred to as “smurfs” to get the prescriptions filled.When recruited, the “smurfs,” who were willing to go to pharmacies around Polk County and fraudulently get prescriptions filled mostly for Oxycodone (OxyContin), but also some for Alprazolam (Xanax). Once the prescriptions were filled (using cash provided by Ward), the “smurfs” turned the pills over to Ward in return for a cash payment (usually between $50 and $100 each). Ward then gave the pills to her “boss” Liz Sykes.

On March 6, 2012, Polk County Sheriff’s detectives working with agents from FDLE and representatives from the DOH arrested eight people, served five search warrants, and dismantled a large-scale pain pill trafficking ring in Polk County.On March 9, 2012, another suspect was arrested in connection to the investigation, Winter Haven restaurant owner Tiffany Olaitan.

Detectives have continued to identify the people who received and filled fraudulent prescriptions obtained and the recruiters who actively worked to get the pills for the trafficking operation.

Those charged or arrested as part of the Key Clinic pill mill operation are:

1.Rodrick Neal, DOB 02/1/69, (Sexual Offender) At large in Winter Haven.Charges: Criminal Use of I.D., Obtaining a Prescription by Fraud, Trafficking in Oxycodone. Works at Buckhead Beef in Auburndale.

2.Loretta May, DOB 11/5/63, LKA – At large in Winter Haven.Charges: Criminal Use of I.D., Obtaining a Prescription by Fraud, Trafficking in Oxycodone.